American Other

Travels, travails, and trailers

Charlotte Wheeler — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:18:53 +0000

Seeking inspiration in the midst of the exhaustion, moving from one place to the next and trying to find some source of stability within the whirlwind of following this road where it leads, sleeping on couches or spreading out a sleeping bag in a tent and depending constantly on the kindness of not strangers, but a community that I could not do this without. Exploring San Diego, from the beaches to downtown; finding people that surprised me with their openness and willingness along the roads that follow California’s border with Mexico; counting windmills and mile markers to Palm Springs, and walking the rocks and trails of Joshua tree, and shining my camera lens on a rock climber or two in between ascents. The traffic slowed in the intricacy of Los Angeles’ arteries; for being almost my home town I learned a lot I didn’t know toting my tripod through the grit and glitter of Tinsel Town. The night of February 13 saw rain and rain and more rain just outside of the city where I supposed to camp. I was loathe to pitch a tent or try to start another fire in the soaking damp and so I woke up on Valentines Day alone in the backseat of my car in an Albertson’s Parking lot in Bakersfield. Auspicious beginnings and all that, the sky cleared and the people opened up just like the blossoms on the trees, trusting me with their own mistrusts, fears, and voices, describing their unique America outside of the post office and from around the State and country while waiting for their Greyhounds to take them to funerals or to a home or some kind of work that they could scrounge up in this kind of economy. The 99 lead me straight and true to Fresno, where I looked nearly in vain for some location where people were pedestrians and not drivers, booted out of one shopping center to another by extremely polite rent-a-cops or store representatives. Stopping for one or two pictures and interviews along the way to the Bay Area, I found peoples’ words like pebbles on the beach, easy enough to get if all I did was reach out. The highways have become a second home, and the people of California an extended sort of family as I become so fond of those that I are so bravely stationed in front of my camera and gracing me with a few moments of their own personal paradigm. That was all for just the trailer. Barely even scratched the surface of this itch to get to know my own country, and am grateful for all the skies and the times and the beautiful long runs of asphalt yet in front of me to find.

Words from the beach

Charlotte Wheeler — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:37:41 +0000

This gentleman was not interested in doing my street interview, nor did he want me to use his name or an image of his face. But he did have something he wanted to say. From Ocean Beach in San Diego. The image is of his jacket.

Looking for Average Jane … or Lisa

Charlotte Wheeler — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:49:28 +0000

Looking for Average Joe . . .err. . . Jane . . . err . . . Lisa

“We need to interview you, Lisa. Where are you?”

Wanna play private investigator? Help us find her!

From American Other, the Documentary;

We are looking for the person who will be our very first interview. Based on US census data, as well as a few other sources, we have come up with a statistical description of the “average American.” If you look over the description below, does it remind you of anybody you know?

Or maybe this is you?
If you know someone, even if it is not an exact match, please, please, let us know.

americanother.com/others

Call Charlotte Wheeler if you have any leads: 415.828.1992

Sex: Female
Age: 35 -49 (38, median)
Race: White
Ethnicity: Non-hispanic/ Non-latino
Weight: BMI less than 25 (normal weight)
Health: Self report, very good, no disability
Income: $29,020 (per capita); $58,925 (household)
Household size: 2.91
Profession: Office and Administrative Support/Office Clerk, General
Health care: Yes (private, employment based is most common)
Home: owner occupied, living in same for more than one year, median value $479.2K
Marital Status: Married, spouse present
Household size: 2.91 Stay at home or professional or both: work outside home
Mean travel time to work: 27 min
Smoker: Never
Drinker: more than once per month
Residence: Lives in the same state where born  (California, for this project)
Language: English only
Religion: Religious, probably Christian, possibly Catholic
High school graduate: Yes
College Graduate: No
Name: Lisa (also could be Michelle or Jennifer — sample based on Social Security card application data)

American Other – The Beginning

Charlotte Wheeler — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:08:02 +0000

From Los Angeles October 6th, 2011.

Sitting here in my best friend’s mother’s basement, not having my own home, my own place to put things like my computer or camera – or self – wondering how I am going to find the money to fix my car, to pay for gas, and where I am going to sleep this evening, I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. This week this project begins – out of pre-production and into actually producing. Making this idea that I have been talking about for the last three years into something others can see, too. I am more than gratified, more than grateful, I am honored. The last few days I’ve been scrambling to learn the basics of DIY websites so that American Other had a virtual home from which people could find out what it is that I am doing. Soon, I will launch the Kick Starter fundraising project, and the social networking requisites for any modern day project. I will be out of excuses for sitting in front a computer, and will trade in the keyboard for a steering wheel, and follow those double yellow lines where they lead.

And so for the next six months I will fly by the seat of my pants and my car will drive on its last legs and I will break in my brand new shiny Panasonic, - and we will see how many miles of travel and hours footage it takes. but at the end of it, we will all have a little bit of a better idea who the other is. But more importantly, perhaps, we will all see outselve as other, and feel what it is like to cross the road.

To all those who have supported me, who continue to do so, who believe in what it is tha I am doing, I will do my best by you. Thank you.